Priest builds
Since the talent review in the 1.10 patch, most if not all the Talents available to priests will find a use somewhere. You can use this page to give you ideas about the kinds of options that are available to you as a priest. Mix and match the talents that appeal to you and your style of play. You should read the Priest Talents page for more information about specific talents. =Level 10 - 49 Builds= Level 10 - 49 Notes PvP Builds If your emphasis is on PvP rather than leveling your toon, the builds below should suffice; however, you should select Blackout instead of Spirit Tap. Holy Damage Builds Despite the improvements to the Holy tree, the Shadow tree is still considered the best route for leveling. See the Level 60 Builds section for templates you might want to use if you want to concentrate on the Holy and Discipline trees. With the 2.0.1 patch, holy is looking good, with the psuedo-Nightfall and the spell damage increase. Blackout vs. Shadow Focus The build recommendations (for PvE grinding) suggest putting points into Shadow Focus over Blackout, up to Level 40. * Shadow Focus allows you to confidently go up against mobs that are two, three, or even four levels above you, providing a higher rate of leveling and better itemization through higher level quests and drops. * Blackout, on the other hand, reduces incoming DPS but happens at random. This can break the 'flow' of grinding, especially if you back away from the mob and put yourself out of range. Shadow Focus will generally be preferred by skilled players who are grinding at the limit of survivability, while Blackout provides more security. Level 10 - 20 Emphasis on Shadow talents. Taking down mobs fast and reducing downtime are the most important things. Your built-in healing abilities will be ample for any groups you are in. http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?rZZxMhz your talents at level 20. * Spirit Tap: Faster mana regen between mobs. * Shadow Focus: Allows you to concentrate on mobs of a higher level than yourself. * Improved SW:P: As the harder battles last longer than 18 seconds. * Mind Flay: The most useful talent in the Shadow tree. It has high DPS and high mana efficiency. Level 21 - 30 Stick with improving damage dealing talents. You can still heal fine. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZxMxtM0o your talents at level 30. * Improved Mind Blast: Reduces the cooldown of the highest DPS attack we have. * Shadow Reach: Allows you to attack targets from farther away. * Vampiric Embrace: Allows you to greatly reduce dependancy on Power Word: Shield, in favor of taking and healing damage as you go. Level 21 - 39 Fast level grind This build minimizes downtime inbetween fights Start with the level 20 build from above: http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?rZZxMhz Then for each level add Wand Specialization and after that Improved Power Word: Shield. At level 28 your build will look like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bV0hZZxMhz After level 28 spend your points in the shadow tree like the shadow builds in this document and when you hit 40 it's time to respec to get Shadowform. How to use this build: * At max range start with Power Word: Shield * Follow up with Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Pain * Do some more damage with Mind Flay * Finally, use your wand until the mob is dead. * After five seconds of using your wand the spririt regen will start filling your mana. And when the mob is dead the spirit tap will kick in and while going to the next mob you'll be at full mana again. This way you can grind mobs and almost never stop for a mana break. Level 31 - 40 More Shadow Talents. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZxMgtMto0k your talents at level 40 when you respec to Shadowform. * Shadow Weaving: Increases DPS by about 10% over all. Stacks with a Shadow damage wand. * Silence: A very useful talent in PvP and PvE instances. * Shadowform: Increases damage by 15% and reduces damage taken by 15% for a single talent point. Level 41 - 49 Even More Shadow. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZEMgtMto0t your talents at level 49. * Blackout: Reduces damage taken in PvE, and is invaluable in PvP. * Darkness: Increases damage by 10%. =Level 50 - 59 Builds= Level 50 - 59 - Instance Healing Option Concentrates on healing efficiency while retaining Shadow spec for grinding and PvP. http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?dZf0xZvMgtctot * Improved Renew: Improves mana efficiency and healing per second. * Divine Fury: Allows you to use Greater Heal rather than Flash Heal, improving mana efficiency. Level 50 - 59 - Fast Grinding Maximizes damage output for PvE. http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?dVZbZEMgtctRt * Wand Specialization: Increases DPS. * Improved Vampiric Embrace: Increases healing output from Vampiric Embrace. Level 51 - 59 - PvP Concentates mostly on maximizing damage, with some survivability. http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?rx0GoZbZqMgtctot * Unbreakable Will, Improved PW:S, Martyrdom: Improves survivability. * Inner Focus: Makes the next spell zero-cost with +25% crit chance. =Level 60 Builds= Level 60 - Raid Healer This build is very popular among Priests looking to heal on raids. It aims to improve the power of your healing while stretching your mana pool out for a long as possible using Inner Focus, Improved Healing, Mental Strength and Meditation so you can keep healing through the long fights in MC and BWL. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxRhsVVoZfhtcc0V You might want to consider switching Mental Strength for Spiritual Healing if you find that you are not running out of mana. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=dxRhsV0oZfhtcc0Vx Level 60 - PvP Face Melter A heavy emphasis on the Shadow Tree gives you the maximum raw DPS. This build generates a lot of threat, and so is most suited for PvP. For tough instances try the Shadow Raider build below. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rxMGsZZVMGpctRt Common variations: - Swap some points for Spirit Tap, this gives less DPS but longer killing in for example BGs before having to pause and drink again. - Swap some points for Healing Focus, this is only 2 points and a huge 70% of a chance not to get casting interruption while healing, so vital to any Priest. The problem is that you can't heal while in Shadowform, so only used for getting out of Shadowform and saving your life. For non-PvP raid DPS, Shadow damage doesn't scale up as well as Holy (below) does. Level 60 - Holy Warrior This build focuses on maximizing Holy damage. The DPS is not as good as the Shadow build (unless you have large amounts of +damage), but Healing and Survivability is better. The Basic Build: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=dfzrkhpt0tAo0xx * Power Infusion, Force of Will, Searing Light and others beef up the DPS of your main damage spells: Smite and Holy Fire. * Martyrdom and Blessed Recovery improve your survivability againist Rogues and Warriors. If your focus is on instances, move points to Silent Resolve and Healing Focus. Level 60 - Shadow Raider A specialised build designed to improve the shadow damage of the Priest and the Warlocks. The Basic Build: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rxg0sZZVGxpzxRt Tips and Variations * The point in Shadow Reach is so you can use Mind Flay at 21 yard range, while the AoE range of some bosses is 20 range. * Shadow Weaving uses one debuff slot to increase shadow damage by 15%. Note that the Warlocks do not have to be in the same party as the priest to benefit from Shadow Weaving. * Shadow Affinity and Silent Resolve provide a combined 45% reduction in threat from the priest, to counter the double threat Mind Blast does compared to other spells. * The Warlocks should use Life Tap whenever they are at full health, so they always recieve some benefit from Vampiric Embrace. * The priest will run out of mana quickly using this build, so have some way to recover your Mana quickly. * Some builds move points out of Inner Focus and Meditation to get Silence against strong spells. * Some builds drop Improved Mind Blast. Using Mind Blast frequently can pull aggro away from the tank. =Level 70 Builds= PVP "Face Melter" This build is a pure PVP build, sacrificing all 45% worth of possible threat reductions, and going right to the end of the shadow tree to get a second DoT. It includes only healing focus in the holy tree, and a few points in discipline for buffs and mana efficiency. The build is hardly viable for raiding, but in the new arena system, as well as normal pvp, it will truly "melt faces." http://www.wowhead.com/?talent-bc=rxMGzhZbZVMgdMtRhtVo Notes *Misery over Shadow Power, since Shadow Word: Death is only situational. *Healing Focus is essential for healing against quick striking foes like rogues or pets. *May substitute Improved Vampiric Embrace (if for some reason you're not a fan) for Imporved Mind Blast. Shadow Raider Not often a viable choice, since the lack of priests in general constrains many guilds to have all their priests spec holy/discipline. However, with the the new expansion having 40 debuff slots, there is room for a priests Shadow Weaving (increases shadow damage by up to 15% by just casting shadow spells). This build has all the main elements of PVP, but with all threat reduction abilities taken. It includes the new 41 point shadow talent, which is a second DoT that restores some mana to all party members when you deal damage. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent-bc=bxgbzhZbZVGrzMtRhtVo Notes *You may want to substitute points out of Improved Mind Blast into Shadow focus or Power Word: Shield, depending on what you think is more important *Improved Vampiric Embrace is essential to a raid specced Shadow Priest. *The 20% threat reduction talent was revised in 2.0.1 to give a 20% reduction in the chances of your spells being dispelled, helpful in PVP. Holy Raider (Healer) Unfortunately, the new Holy tree is somewhat of a disappointment. I don't recommend going beyond the seventh tier. However, the majority of priests will have to spec full Holy if they want to have the most impressive heals possible. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent-bc=bxRhuhMtbZfxxMc0VVh Notes *Avoid Mental Agility, since only Renew, and Circle of Healing are instant cast heals. *Avoid most abilities that require a critical hit to proc, especially Martyrdom and Blessed Recovery. Even healing criticals are often a waste, since they have a tendency to overheal (note that Holy Specialization is still included in the build due to a lack of good alternatives). *No talents are chosen which improve a holy priests offensive abilities (Smite and Holy Fire), in order to have the best healer. *Threat reduction is rarely necessary, unless you have an incapable tank. *Wand damage is sometimes useful if your group/party is mostly healed, and you want to do some damage without interupting the 5 second rule. Absolution and Mana burn are chosen as situationally useful talents in this build, for which Wand Damage may be substituted. *Avoid Lightwell (not terribly usefull) and Spirit of Redemption (which only lasts approximately 7 seconds after death, due to lag. Discipline Most priest invest in the Discipline build to some degree, at least high enough to obtain Inner Focus. Discipline increases the power of buffs (Power Word: Shield, Fortitude, Divine Spirit, etc.), balances DPS and healing, and most importantly, conserves mana. However, there are limited numbers of full Discipline priests, as most tend to specialize in the Shadow or Holy trees. Discipline is an alternative that allows a priest to both deal damage and heal, though probably not as adept at either one as a Shadow or Holy Priest. The build below shows only Discipline talents. ...Insert typical build here... Notes *Martyrdom, Improved Inner Fire, Power Word: Shield, Reflective Shield, Force of Will, and Focused Power are mainly PVP skills, so invest in these wisely. *Mental Agility is only really useful in non-healing, non-damage dealing, utility spells. *There are many different opinions on exactly which talents make the best Discipline priest. Category:Guides Category:Priests Category:Talents Category:Priest Talents